He said it would have been hard for anyone else to have placed the note because when he claimed the bag in San Diego the zipper pulls were sealed with nylon straps that indicated a TSA inspection.

If a TSA employee placed the note, "we will take appropriate and swift action," TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said Saturday from Washington, D.C.

"That is not appropriate behavior and not within the very high expectations we hold ... and that the American public has a right to expect," Turmail added.

Screeners are trained "in a range of customer service issues ... to assure the security process is polite, professional and appropriate," Turmail said.

Goldberg said he picked up the anti-war signs in Seattle. "In New Jersey there's very little in the way of protest and when I got to Seattle I was amazed how many anti-war signs were up in front of houses," he said.